Hope dies last
by Flamara
Summary: We often say that the everyday goods are the most important ones, but do we really think much about it? In a similar way, we often say that hope dies last, but how far can we stretch this saying? Amourshipping in later chapters, AshxSerena, SatoSere


**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

**Enter this chapter without expectations and be caught by its story!**

* * *

Noises of footsteps could be heard through the darkness that approached a flickering street lamp somewhere on an icy road. There was nothing else though, nothing besides the street lamp in a world of darkness.

It was outside, but you didn't need to worry that it could rain. It hadn't rained in months.

When the footsteps came closer, you could also hear the slightly heavy breathing of an individual.

As soon as he stepped on a twig, the cracking noise caused the human to look worriedly around, but he kept on walking until he stood beneath the street lamp.

Now, you could see that it was a human, who wore warm winter clothes, including a blue jacket, red gloves, brown winter boots, black trousers filled with insulation that was supposed to keep him warm and a large scarf around his neck.

Once again, the street lamp started to flicker.

Looking up, the boy inspected the lighting. During that time, you could see that his hood had some fur around its outside to keep his face warm and protected from the icy air that almost bit into your skin.

Like feared, the lamp stopped its working with a loud bang, giving the shadows a possibility to envelop everything, including the person.

"Yet another one …", the boy sighed sadly.

All at once, it was completely dark. It was dark and it was quiet, terrible quiet. Too quiet.

Suddenly, something within his jacket moved up to his collar.

"You noticed it as well, didn't you?" The boy looked down to his collar, although he couldn't see anything, even with the few light that the _stars_ granted him.

Peeking out of the collar, the individual noticed the complete darkness, but the cold could always find them everywhere, it didn't need to see them, hear them or smell them.

" … be careful with your tail! You're tickling me …", the hooded man said quietly, suppressing some chuckles. Of course, he couldn't risk to laugh at this place or at this time.

Now, the small follower left the warm jacket of the boy before it landed on the hard, frozen ground in front of him. Shivering, the Pokémon knew that it was the best to keep moving to stay warm.

"Pal, isn't it too cold for you?" The concerned boy asked. "It's minus twenty-five centigrade after all and I don't want you to become sick."

"Chu Chu Pikapi," the small individual responded.

"Okay, but you'll immediately return beneath my jacket when we arrive!" He ordered. "For now, could you please light up our way with Flash?"

Said and done! Starting as a small point of light within the darkness, it quickly grew by a multiple until an area with a diameter of six meters was lighted up by it. Finally, you were able to see the surroundings again, although they were anything but special to the eyes of a normal person.

The centre of the light was the tip of a yellow tail in lightning form. It belonged to no other than a Pikachu, the electro mouse Pokémon with red cheeks and yellow body.

"You're better than every lantern on this world," the trainer praised his Pokémon. "Nevertheless, we should hurry before we miss the distribution."

Pikachu agreed, shivering and the duo continued their way along the road.

The Flash of the rodent revealed some parts of the environment. The whole ground was dry, icy and hard, nothing more and nothing less at this point. Plants and trees were either dead or shortly before dead, so it wasn't a nice sight at all.

_Already eight months …_ , he thought silently.

Suddenly, he heard noises from the woods, or the remaining parts of the woods to be exactly.

Unfortunately, the Flash didn't reach those parts and the boy couldn't recognize what it was that watched them, but for some reason, he looked pitiful to the woods and not fearfully like you would expect from him.

Unexpectedly, he was touched by something on his back.

Out of reflex, the raven-haired boy wanted to turn around to bring some distance between himself and his follower, however, as soon as Pikachu's Flash reached the face of the new individual, the trainer sighed in relieve.

"It's you," the boy said quietly. "You would do me a favor if you don't appear from out of nowhere from now on."

The Pokémon looked guiltily, but it understood.

It had a human-like body-shape, fur on its belly, a dog-like head, some spikes, and a black and blue color. When Pikachu noticed its friend, the rodent smiled brightly until the cold let him shiver once more. Time to go on.

"Tell me, Lucario, did you see something interesting?" The boy asked curiously.

The aura-Pokémon thought for a short moment. "Nothing … new, Ash."

Ash smiled towards his Pokémon. "I know that you still have some problems with talking and you can just shake your head for a _no. _As your teacher, I allow you that."

Lucario nodded.

"By the way, aren't you cold?" Ash asked worriedly.

This time, Lucario shook its head.

With other noises from the woods, the trio continued their lonely way.

"Those poor Pokémon …", Ash said sadly. "It becomes more terrible with the day and I feel so helpless and guilty."

Seconds later, Pikachu stopped on its way and the rodent looked up to something in front of them. Noticing it, the raven-haired boy approached the wood before he read the worn sign in front of his group. "Welcome to Viridian city!"

Everyone was happy to see that sign and to hear those words. In times where a lot of things had changed, you were happy to see some things that stayed the same.

In the distance, the group could recognize lights that lighted up their surroundings, probably of the houses and street lightings. Every light could cheer Ash up, especially after he had to walk through the dark for that long.

"I guess, I'll find the way now, Pikachu.", Ash explained enthusiastically. "You can come back under my jacket now to warm up."

The yellow mouse welcomed that idea and after it finished its Flash attack, it went quickly to Ash before he disappeared within the boy's collar again. Although it hadn't been very long, Pikachu was extremely cold and Ash shivered when his rodent passed his face and neck.

From now on, Viridian city's lights served as the trail guide.

"It should be shortly past midday …", he said to no one particular.

Following the lights like a moth, Ash approached the city, where he had won his eighth badge of Kanto long ago. After a few minutes, he spotted the lights of floodlights and the raven-haired trainer knew that he reached the border of the city.

A cracking noise, however, caused Lucario to turn around and he immediately used its aura to look through the darkness. There wasn't much life energy anymore that he could sense, but multiple individuals were approaching his location.

"What's wrong?" Ash turned around, but he could only see the silhouette of his Pokémon.

Lucario growled and he was ready to strike and apparently, Ash noticed it.

"No, Lucario!" Ash said sternly. "Those Pokémon are innocent and they have it hard enough out here. Obviously, they look for food, but we don't have anything with us anyway and we almost reached Viridian city."

The aura-user agreed with his trainer and turned around. Increasing their speed, the group advanced quickly.

_If there was just a way to help everyone … It won't be long until … I don't dare to think that …_

Finally, Ash spotted the huge iron fence that encircled the city completely. Huge floodlights shone into the inside of this area, which served as the last retreat for humans and their Pokémon in this period of shortages and Angst.

After they entered the area through a door that was difficult to open, especially for Pokémon, Ash threw one last gaze into the darkness before he closed the door again that made a squeaking noise.

Out of nowhere, he was illuminated by a flashlight and Ash shielded his eyes that were too much adapted to darkness nowadays.

"Who's there and what's the reason you came to this city?", a male voice asked strictly, inspecting the 'visitors' before he noticed Lucario.

"It's just me; Ash Ketchum from Pallet town and I visit this city for the weekly foods distribution.", Ash responded calmly, as a matter of fact.

"Alright, but who's that Pokémon?" The person asked, who was seemingly a policeman.

"It's Lucario; one of my Pokémon," Ash answered correctly.

"You don't look like a criminal , but nevertheless, I need to see your identification and permission." The man said quite politely, yet demanding.

Ash sighed, but he knew that it had its reasons that everyone from the outside had to show his pass when entering another city like Viridian city. Pulling his passport out of his jacket, Ash showed it to the policeman, who inspected it immediately.

"It seems you're the one that you claim to be and you're allowed to enter with two of your Pokémon. Can I rely on your honesty that you don't have more than two Pokémon with you?"

"Only Pikachu and Lucario are with me, officer" , Ash replied and his yellow rodent peeked with its head out of his collar to show himself to the officer.

The policeman pointed his flashlight to Pikachu, then at Lucario before he lighted up the door where Ash came from and the fence around it.

"Did you let any wild Pokémon through the door?", the man continued to ask as a matter of routine.

"Wild Pokémon are not our enemies!" Ash clarified sternly, feeling slightly disgusted.

"That wasn't my question! You know the rules and all of us have to follow them, so tell me; did you let any wild Pokémon through the door?"

"No, officer", the boy replied without much enthusiasm in his voice.

Eventually, the policeman took some notes before he looked to Ash again.

"In that case; I welcome you to Viridian city", he said casually.

"Thanks!", Ash responded before he motioned to his Lucario to follow him to the city.

After Ash left, the policeman still looked through the area around the fence to assure that Ash told the truth, otherwise he would need to report the boy for breaking the rules. Obviously, it wasn't a nice job to be in the cold for hours, but it needed to be done for safety reasons.

Ash still had to walk several hundred feet before he reached the first building.

Viridian city, finally. It still looked like always, with the exception that its streets weren't as crowded anymore. With most people within their warm flats, the city didn't look as friendly as a year ago. Thanks to the large amount of street lighting in this area, it was possible to see the whole town that had seen better days in its history.

"We're here", the Pallet town native said.

Once again, Pikachu peeked out of Ash's collar when they passed various buildings, including the Pokémon centre and the gym of the city. Like at the outside, plants and flowers didn't grow anywhere, not even in the park.

"What a dreary area …", he said sadly.

Eventually, Ash spotted the building that he needed to visit on a weekly basis.

It was a gigantic dome, made of glass and iron that was located within the centre of the city. With a height of approximately two-hundred-fifty feet and a diameter of almost one-thousand, it was the largest building of the city, but also the most important one. It was dubbed "Dome of life" for specific reasons.

"Come on, Lucario", Ash said. "It would be terrible if we aren't on time when the distribution starts."

With that, they approached the dome in the distance.

* * *

There were already several hundred people in front of the dome and all of them wore warm clothes like Ash, but you could see their impatience within their eyes. Apparently, the front door of the dome was still closed and the crowd pushed itself around. Among them were some Pokémon, but only such that could seemingly carry a lot of weight on their shoulders.

Eventually, a person with a megaphone appeared in front of the well-lighted entrance door.

"Silence! As the manager of the "Dome of life", I have to request for silence!", he shouted.

It took some time, but after a few minutes, it was almost silent.

"I have good and bad news for you. What do you want to hear first?", he asked into the crowd.

Someone within the crowd called for the "Good news".

"The good news are that we were able to plant bananas within the dome", he revealed and the crowd cheered , because it had been long since anyone had seen that fruit at all.

"Don't celebrate too early!", the manager warned. "The bad news are that some of our UV-lightings broke down and that we couldn't manage to reach the week's goal of foods. All in all, that means that you'll have to survive with 10% less this week."

That were really bad news and the crowd complaint heavily.

At the end of the crowd, Ash had crossed his arms after he heard the announcement.

"That's not our day", he said to Lucario. "Well, we'll make the best out of it."

Now, the entrance of the dome opened and people started to shove each other in an attempt to enter the building as soon as possible. The fear that you could come too late only to leave with nothing was huge, especially if you were a parent with children at home.

"First food, then morals …"Ash quoted Bertolt Brecht.

Ash didn't hurry like the others and he even helped a woman that was pushed to the ground.

"Is everything okay?", he asked, giving her a helping hand.

"… yes, thank you", she answered hesitantly. "Sorry, but I'm not used to such kindness anymore."

"You're welcome." Ash smiled towards her before she entered the building.

Ash still stood in front of the building, being lost in some thoughts that followed him for quite some time. In his opinion, it was a sad situation, especially the situation of the society that fell apart slowly but surely.

"…", Lucario waited with his trainer, but eventually he had to wake him up. "… do we go not?"

Ash loved it that his Lucario tried to talk with him, although its grammar wasn't always the best.

"Don't worry, Lucario" , he answered warmly. "I just thought about something, but now, we can go into the dome to warm up, especially you."

The aura-Pokémon agreed, appreciating Ash's concern for his well-being.

When the trio entered the building, Pikachu left the jacket of Ash to land on the warm ground.

Pulling back his hood, Ash welcomed the warm air that touched his face and the trainer knew enough about this distribution. Only one tenth of the dome was exclusively for the foods distribution, with the remaining area was for the food production that was important for the survival of thousands.

No matter into which direction you looked, everywhere were queues, queues and queues.

Behind some tables were some people and behind them were several boxes and bags with food.

To be honest, you couldn't be very picky here, because every visitor got some bags with basic foodstuff and a small amount of fruits and vegetables for the week. From time to time, you were lucky to receive some candy, but most of the time, you had to pay for it. Luxury so to speak.

All in all, the distribution only lasted thirty minutes, hence you needed to be on time.

"I guess, we should go to this stand there", Ash suggested.

Queuing up, the trainer yawned silently until it was finally his turn.

"Pass, please!", the distributor said.

Ash gave it to the woman, but when she looked onto it, she shrugged indifferent with her shoulders and Ash raised an eyebrow, wondering.

Then she gave two bags of basic foodstuff to the trainer.

"Wait!", Ash said, noticing something. "Even with 10% less this week, it should still be three bags."

"Order from our manager", the woman replied. "Outsiders will get less than inhabitants of our town."

_Outsiders? … What the heck … _

"That's not fair!", he said. "There has never been a problem with the fact that I'm from Pallet town."

"If you want more, you can move into this city to get a new pass, but until then, you'll have to follow the rules", the female distributor responded, slightly annoyed with the complaining outsider.

"Could I at least talk with your manager then?", the raven-haired boy asked.

"I fear that this won't be possible and now I have to recommend you to let the next person get his food", she responded quickly and Ash already heard the complaining people behind him, so he left the stand with a bad mood.

When Ash returned to his Pokémon, Lucario could sense via aura that his trainer was mad, very mad.

"Lucario, could you hold those bags for me?", the trainer asked, with a slightly demanding tone and his Pokémon willingly accepted this task. "I'll have to talk with someone, but you can follow me though."

Then, the raven-haired trainer walked along a corridor that was completely empty before he stopped in front of a room. Knocking on the door twice, Ash waited for a response and eventually, he could hear through the door how someone approached it.

"Who's there?", someone asked, but Ash had heard that question too often already.

"It's just me", Ash responded, sighing.

Now, the door opened and it revealed a man with a Hawaii-shirt, black sunglasses and brown hair that knew Ash all too well. When his eyes spotted the boy, he grew a smile, but it almost immediately disappeared again when he noticed Ash's expression.

"Ah … Ash; it's great to see you, but please, come in" , the man invited Ash into his office.

After Ash motioned to his Pokémon to come with him into the office, he turned to his friend.

"Did you lose weight again, Scott?", the boy asked, inspecting Scott.

"I guess, nobody can stay the same during times like this and all of us have to come out without too much", Scott answered, putting his hands on his belly that wasn't as huge as some years ago.

"Some more than others, I guess", the boy responded indifferent.

"What do you mean?", Scott asked, puzzled.

"Apparently, it was decided that people like me, who are called outsiders nowadays, have to come out with only 60% of the rations of food", the boy explained cohesively.

"Hmm … I didn't know about that", Scott revealed, scratching his head. "Normally, our manager talks with us about such things, but to be honest, he seems to have become very distant to anyone, including me. Be assured that I'll talk with him about it as soon as possible."

"Thanks, Scott. That means a lot to me", Ash replied with a smile. "By the way, it seems that you read a newspaper before I came in."

Scott sighed and nodded. "Although I'm lucky to got one exemplar this week, I have to say that it isn't my favorite newspaper to be honest."

"Bad news?"

"The usual stuff about shortages off all kind, but the increase of crimes doesn't do us any favors."

"I've never understood why people start to screw each other during times where we need to stick even more together than usual. Today's problems concern all the people, that's why we should try to solve them together", Ash explained thoughtfully.

"Not everybody is as kind as you, Ash, although I would wish for it.", Scott replied before he took the newspaper again. "For example, I quote _Unknown thief broke into three households to steal all food resources before he burnt the buildings down._"

Ash shook his head.

"To be honest, there's another article that makes me worry much more. Listen; _Travelers attacked by wild Pokémon! Is it time for us to defend us against them?_"

"Stupid newspaper!", Ash blurted out. "It's not the fault of the wild Pokémon! They have it harder than us and we should try to help them. With every additional day, Pokémon have to suffer more and it's up to us to find a way to save them."

"Inspirational words, Ash, but it's easier said than done", Scott replied.

"There's always a way, Scott", the black-haired boy replied convincingly.

"Anyway, how's your mother doing?", Scott asked, putting the newspaper to the side.

"Well, she's doing fine, but she still misses her flowers and her garden", Ash explained. "Nevertheless, she's still the brightest light in this world and thanks to her, I don't lose hope."

"I guess, she still denies to move to one of the bigger cities, right?", the man asked, already expecting the answer that Ash would give him.

"You already know the answer, Scott. Of course, it seems to be wise to move somewhere close to a dome of life, but my mother loves our home too much to leave it, even now", Ash replied, moving with his hand through his hair that was slightly longer than usual.

"I see …," Scott replied understandingly.

"By the way, do you want to see what I taught my Lucario?" Ash asked, sounding proud.

"You know that I'm always happy to hear that you spend as much time as always with your Pokémon," Scott responded, sounding as if he was in a good mood again.

Smiling towards his aura Pokémon, Ash said, "Lucario, say good afternoon to Scott."

"Good afternoon …," Lucario said before he added. " … to Scott."

Although Ash facepalmed, Scott was visibly amazed by Lucario's ability to speak.

"Wow; I didn't know that you would try to teach your Pokémon how to speak. On the other hand, I'm not surprised that you would be able to manage such a task, especially due to your love to Pokémon." Scott exclaimed, adjusting his sunglasses and Lucario felt some kind of embarrassed to be the center of attention.

Ash laughed sheepishly and he scratched the back of his head, looking more like the boy that he used to be before the 'change'.

"Well, ever since Lucario joined my team in the Kalos region, I've always wanted to teach him this ability. Of course, I asked him first if he's interested in learning our language and well, the rest is history …," Ash explained.

When Ash lifted his fist in front of his face, his left sleeve slid down, but only a few inches.

However, it was enough to reveal something.

"What's that?", Scott asked, pointing to the armlet around Ash's arm.

The raven-haired boy was caught off guard, therefore he hid this object under his sleeve again. A few months ago, he would have loved to tell Scott about this, but unfortunately, it wasn't as important anymore after he couldn't use it anymore to do what he loved most.

"It's just a regular souvenir, nothing more." Ash explained casually before he looked randomly to the clock at the wall of Scott's office. "Hmm … the distribution is almost over …"

"I guess, you have to leave again, right?" Scott assumed and Ash nodded.

Lifting a finger as a sign for Ash to wait one more second, Scott walked to another door of the room and after he had left the room for a few moments, the Hawaii-shirt wearing man returned with a huge bag that he gave to Ash.

"Wow … Thanks, Scott." Ash said, noticing the additional food.

"I can't let you go without knowing if you have enough food to survive another week, Ash." Scott explained his reasons. "Be assured that I'll talk with the manager to make sure that you won't need to cut back."

"I don't know how I can thank you for that …," Ash answered, looking guiltily.

"Just stay the same." Scott suggested a way before he looked to Pikachu and Lucario. "You two as well, okay?"

"We'll and some day, this nightmare will be over." Ash responded mysteriously.

Telling Scott that he would see him next week again, Ash, with Lucario and Pikachu, left the office again. At the moment, Ash and Lucario had to carry a lot, but it wasn't as if they were going to complain about food resources.

* * *

After they left the dome again, Ash prepared mentally for the way back to his lovely mum. With his hood back on and Pikachu beneath his warm jacket, the Kanto native closed his eyes for a second before he made his first step.

With everyone back in their flats, the streets were completely deserted.

Using the same way they were coming from, Ash and his Pokémon quickly reached the huge fence of the town again. Apparently, the police officer was somewhere else now and Ash could at least leave the town without needing to answer questions.

"It had been a short visit …," Ash admitted.

Shortly before he opened the heavy iron door of the fence, Ash had a weird feeling that shot through his body. For some reason, he remembered the article about the wild Pokémon that attacked travelers outside of a town.

Quickly, he shook his head again and thought, 'I shouldn't start to see Pokémon as enemies … never …I know better than that …'

Once he was past the fence, Ash noticed that his Lucario looked suspiciously to him.

"Is something wrong," the boy asked.

"Not yet," Lucario responded.

The raven-haired boy could only assume that his Pokémon noticed his conflict, but he didn't want him to worry. With the lights from the fence, the group could at least manage the first part of their way without problems, but after the lights of Viridian city were too far away, it became more difficult to follow the path.

The quickest way from Viridian to Pallet still took four hours.

"I should have taken a backpack with us …," Ash joked uncharacteristically in that situation.

Again, it was Pikachu's time to play the lantern for the group, especially for Ash.

With just a circle of light around them, the group managed the first half of their way without any problems and every now and then, they were lucky that some parts of the street lighting still worked, so Pikachu could warm up under Ash's jacket.

Out of nowhere, Lucario stopped on its way and even Ash had a feeling of depression right now.

At the moment, they stood beneath another street lighting that still worked.

Immediately, the Kanto native looked to his aura Pokémon. With a silent and serious expression, the blue Pokémon just stayed motionless and it seemed that only its mind was working. Apparently, Lucario was waiting for something that just didn't want to happen.

Do you know this feeling when you think that you are watched by something?

Slowly, Ash approached Lucario, trying to be as silent as possible.

"Is there something," Ash asked quietly.

After a short moment of silence, Lucario nodded slowly, without retreating from its current position.

Again! Ash remembered the article that Scott showed him, but he just didn't want to believe that all wild Pokémon would start to attack humans. Nevertheless, Ash was tense and he wondered what to do in that situation.

"We shouldn't remain here, Lucario," Ash explained shortly thereafter. "It's not the first time that we pass wild Pokémon and we need to reach our destination anyway."

However, Lucario still wasn't convinced. "It's … different …"

"What's different?" Ash asked, puzzled.

It wasn't easy for Lucario to explain it, especially in a language that he was just learning. "This Pokémon … it's following us …"

Ash raised an eyebrow, because it wasn't new that wild Pokémon followed them out of curiosity or hope to be leaded to some kind of oasis. On the other hand, even Ash felt that something was different, especially the atmosphere.

"Pokémon … keeps same distance the whole time …" Lucario continued to explained. "Now, it's in front of us and stopped …"

It was a difficult situation. Was this Pokémon waiting for them? If it was just hungry, why didn't it approach them in an attempt to steal the food resources?

Looking into the distance, Ash couldn't recognize anything, but somewhere was an individual that didn't move anymore, just like them. Under normal circumstances, the group could just use a slightly different way to pass this Pokémon, but it just felt weird.

"It's senseless to wait." Ash explained logically. If that Pokémon wasn't moving and they weren't moving, it could take an eternity to get home.

Lucario just closed his eyes and he scanned the whole area with his aura.

Suddenly, Lucario lifted his head and opened his eyes again.

Without any explanation, Lucario walked into the direction of the Pokémon. Of course, his trainer was confused and he didn't know if it was such a good idea. On the other hand, he trusted his Pokémon and Lucario knew what he was doing.

Leaving the light of the street lighting, Ash followed Lucario into the darkness.

Slowly, he moved through the darkness, but without light, it was extremely complicated. To use Pikachu's Flash all the time in this cold couldn't be good for the rodent's health either.

Unexpectedly, the boy was stopped by a horizontal arm in front of him. It was Lucario's one, who had stopped again. After the echo of his last step faded, Ash heard a very quiet growl in front of him and he stayed calm.

Without request, Pikachu left Ash's jacket and used a Flash attack.

Normally, Ash wouldn't say that this was a smart idea, but even he was too curious at the moment.

The circle of light became bigger and it reached Ash, Lucario and then a third individual.

"A Houndoom ..," Ash whispered, looking to the Pokémon that fletched its teeth and growled towards them. It looked dangerous, but Ash spotted something within the Pokémon's eyes that revealed that it didn't want to attack them.

It was a Houndoom, but why was Lucario so surprised? It seemed as if the Pokémon didn't want them to pass him.

"Pi?" Pikachu said, surprised.

Making the Flash even brighter, Pikachu lighted up the area behind Houndoom and now, it became visible why this dog didn't want to move. Only a few feet behind the first Houndoom was a second one, perhaps a female.

When Ash looked closely, he noticed that this female Houndoom laid on its belly.

Looking to the ground, she protected an egg between her front legs; a Pokémon egg.

All at once, everything became clear for Ash. Ash, Pikachu and Lucario looked speechless to the parents, but father Houndoom still growled threateningly to the invaders. Obviously, he just wanted to protect his family.

It warmed Ash's heart to see this scene and a smile appeared on his face.

Putting his bags on the ground, the trainer approached the mother, but the male Houndoom growled louder this time. Realizing this, Ash kneeled down and looked Houndoom into his eyes without expressing a word. Perhaps, through understanding that goes behind our knowledge, Houndoom calmed down and suddenly, Ash put a hand on Houndoom's head to caress it.

Lucario was amazed that his trainer could win the trust of Pokémon that easily.

Out of reflex, however, Houndoom withdrew his head from Ash's hand, but Ash's smile didn't fade.

Understandingly, Houndoom was quite confused how to react to a human like Ash.

Slowly, Ash slid on his knees towards the mother and she was equal confused as her mate.

As soon as he was in front of her, Ash pulled back his hood to reveal his face to the Pokémon. Despite the cold, Ash didn't want to be seen a stranger to the Pokémon that strengthen his belief that wild Pokémon weren't evil.

The female Houndoom looked unsurely to her mate, but he seemed to be calm.

Suddenly, Ash put his right ear onto the egg and listened carefully.

His smile brightened when he even heard noises from the inside, but they were very quiet.

Lucario stood right next to the male Houndoom and both dogs hesitated to move at this point.

After he withdrew from the egg, Ash waited for a second and out of nowhere, the egg started to flash and shine. Immediately, dad Houndoom approached his mate and for some reason, he looked extremely concentrated to the hatching egg, just like the female one.

"Don't be so serious, you two," Ash said enthusiastically. "You'll be parents."

Pikachu almost forgot how cold it was, but even he was amazed.

For a brief moment, the egg shone for whole three seconds and Ash hadn't been as excited like that in months, almost a year to be honest. Strangely enough, the Houndooms waited eagerly for their child to leave the egg.

Then, however, the shining stopped and the bright light faded.

With the light being gone, the egg was still there, but no Pokémon. Immediately, the Houndooms lowered their heads in disappointment and Ash didn't quite realize what happened at all.

'No …,' Ash feared the worst.

Putting his ear against the egg again, Ash listened carefully. For a few seconds, he heard quiet noises, but to his horror, they became weaker by the second until he couldn't hear anything anymore. Like frozen in shock, Ash's eyes didn't show much expression.

Silence enveloped the scene.

Just sitting on his legs, Ash couldn't contain his emotions anymore.

Via aura, Lucario could see how completely overwhelmed his trainer was. It didn't take long until the first tears dropped down from Ash's face, who never wanted to witness such a scene that broke his heart into pieces.

Motionless, Ash just looked down to the egg that didn't manage to survive.

The female Houndoom looked upset, but not visibly surprised. Just like her mate, she seemed to have expected this fate for her egg. For the last time, she lowered her head to rub her cheeks against the egg before she stood up to walk to her mate.

It hadn't been the first time that their offspring couldn't defeat the circumstances.

The whole time, Ash didn't move.

With a loud howl, the male Houndoom expressed his sadness before the two dogs left this place without trying to steal Ash's bags of food.

Just like his trainer, Pikachu couldn't hide his sadness.

It became difficult for Ash to catch a thought. ' … '

Was this happening to almost all wild Pokémon? If their offspring wasn't able to survive, would that mean that wild Pokémon were going to die out? Why couldn't the egg hatch? Probably, it was too cold, even for a fire-type. On the other, the female Houndoom didn't find much to eat during her pregnancy and her body just couldn't offer much to the small offspring, making it not strong enough to be born.

Time went on and nobody wanted to say something …

* * *

After Ash was finally able to continue the remaining way back to his home, he didn't say anything; he didn't want to say anything. From the outside, it seemed as if the boy was emotionless, but deep inside, he was devastated.

Lucario voluntarily had taken an additional bag from Ash.

Eventually, they reached the last road that would lead them to Pallet town. With almost all street lighting working, it wouldn't be very difficult to get home anymore and Pikachu seemed very cold right now, however, he didn't want to 'annoy' his trainer.

However, Ash wasn't egoistical. "Pal, please come back under my jacket …", he said quietly.

Hesitantly, the rodent jumped onto Ash's shoulder before he disappeared within Ash's jacket again. Despite this sentence, it was still very quiet and the group walked along the main street of Pallet town, if you could call it like that at all.

Like everywhere else, nobody was on the streets; nobody could.

With his head lowered down and deep in thought, Ash walked along the road.

There were houses, but nobody was living there. Besides Ash, his mum and a certain professor, everybody had moved away from Pallet town to be close to other humans. You could easily feel lonely here; you had all the rights to feel lonely.

Although you couldn't see whole Pallet town at the moment, Ash didn't even want to see it. It was perhaps better that it was hid in the darkness, because Ash's heart couldn't take it anymore. Day for day, week for week and month for month, he could only look on how everything changed and it weren't good changes.

After they walked through this ghost town, the group finally saw their destination.

It was the last normal house of the town that was still occupied.

With a small smile, Ash approached his home; it is his home, it was his home and it would always be his home, no matter what. From the distance, you could only see a weak light that shone through one of the windows; perhaps from a candle light.

* * *

There were several candlelights on the table; lights that lightened up the living room of the Ketchum residence. In addition, many covers laid on the couch, many pillows and warm clothes that were important for survival.

A clown like Pokémon carried a basket of water through the room.

"Mr. Mime, please don't overstrain yourself." An adult woman said worriedly.

Suddenly, she coughed heavily and it sounded seriously. With a worried expression, Mr. Mime looked for his owner, but the woman waved with her hand to assure that she was going to be okay.

"It's nothing …," she said. "It was just a scratchiness in my throat."

Mr. Mime put the basket of water onto an iron holder that was connected with chains to the ceiling of the room. It looked almost antique, but it had its reason that the woman had to use such inventions at her house.

"Sweetie, could you please help us with the water?", the woman, Ash's mother, said.

Suddenly, another individual appeared from behind the couch and it happily followed Delia's wish.

It looked like a hedgehog with flames on its head and lower back. It was a Quilava; Ash's Quilava to be exact. Skipping to the basket, Quilava expelled a small flame towards the bottom of the iron basket to heat up the water inside.

Unexpectedly, the front door opened and Delia looked curiously.

When Ash and his Pokémon stepped into the house, Delia felt very relieved. She didn't like it to send, or rather let Ash go to other cities. To keep the cold out of the house, Ash immediately closed the door again before he motioned to his Lucario to put the bags onto the couch.

The whole time, he was silent.

Taking off his jacket, Ash seemed to be still in thought and Pikachu looked worriedly to him, with a similar expression. Apparently, the silent infected the other ones as well, because nobody said anything.

Delia sensed that something had happened to her son.

Within a second, Ash walked to his mum and gave her a big hug.

"Hi, mum …" Ash said with a mix of emotions.

**End of chapter!**

* * *

**(A/N: **This is just an idea that followed me through my everyday life)

**Actually, I don't intend to write more for this story, but I just wanted to know what you think about it; is it worth to continue this story? There are a lot of open questions, but it's not always good to reveal anything in the first chapter though. **

**Question: Is this story worth a shot?**


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